It is common practice to run idle or switched off electric devices in a standby power mode, where the device consumes a reduced amount of electricity. The typical standby power of an electric device may for example be up to about 8 Watts. However, taken across the billions of electric devices in use, even this small amount adds up to an appreciable fraction of total world electricity consumption. Initiatives such as the One Watt Initiative by the International Energy Agency (IEA) are attempting to reduce standby power in electric devices to 0.5 Watts by the year 2013. It would be advantageous to allow simplified activation of electric devices in standby power mode, even when operating at 0.5 Watts.